Home entertainment. New on video.

A New Crop Of Flicks For Drive-in Movie Buffs

July 07, 1995|By Mary Stevens.

Drive-in theaters are a disappearing breed, but lovers of vintage "drive-in" movies can pick up some doozies on video.

In honor of Godzilla's 40th birthday, Paramount Home Video has hatched a collection of way-out sci-fi films about space-age reptiles. At $19.95 each, they include "Godzilla, King of the Monsters," "Godzilla's Revenge," "Godzilla Vs. Mothra" and the never-before-on-video "Last Days of Planet Earth" (in which giant slugs and mutant bats wreak havoc).

On Tuesday, MCA/Universal Home Video adds four new titles to its "Hammer Horror Collection" (named for the British production company Hammer Films). "Kiss of the Vampire," "Phantom of the Opera" (starring Herbert Lom), "Nightmare" and "Paranoiac" (starring Oliver Reed) are $14.98 each.

Everyone knows the tale of Pocahontas' romance with English explorer Capt. John Smith; "Pocahontas: Her True Story" (from A&E Home Video's "Biography" series, $19.95) also examines her roles as an adviser to her powerful chieftain father and liaison between the Indians and Colonists. It's an interesting counterpoint to the story told in the new Disney animated movie.

Another remarkable woman, Great Britain's Queen Elizabeth I, is the focus of the Emmy Award-winning dramatic miniseries "Elizabeth R" (CBS/Fox Video, a six-volume set, $149.98). Glenda Jackson portrays the monarch in presentations that originally aired on PBS' "Masterpiece Theater" in the 1970s.